Ia To Introduce Two New Flights From Calcutta

The flights will be in the Calcutta-Jaipur-Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Calcutta and Calcutta-Ranchi-Patna-Mumbai sectors.

The domestic airline is also increasing the frequency of existing flights. There will now be a direct Calcutta-Bangalore evening flight on all seven days of the week, in addition to the existing daily flight to Bangalore in the morning.

In the Calcutta-Madras sector, a direct morning flight will complement the existing evening flights on all seven days of the week. In the north-eastern sector, the frequency of the Calcutta-Tezpur-Calcutta and the Calcutta-Dimapur-Calcutta flights is being increased from twice to thrice-a-week.

Speaking to Business Standard, IA's regional director (east) P C Purakayastha said while the Boeing B-737 will be used in the north-eastern sector, Airbus A-320s will operate on all additional and new routes.

 

Each Boeing B-737 has a seating capacity of 119 while an Airbus A-320 can carry 142 passengers.

Indian Airlines, which already runs a passenger service to Singapore from Madras, has mooted a proposal to operate a direct Calcutta-Singapore-Calcutta flight as well.

At present the provisions of the bilateral air agreement between India and Singapore do not allow this. A final decision on the subject is likely to taken after the existing agreements are reviewed.

As part of its turnaround strategy, IA has doubled the number of international destinations in the past five years.

The airline plans to develop its engineering facility as a separate profit centre. Bagchi said it is expected to break even within four years.

The engineering training school will train technicians from private air traffic operators (ATOs) such as Blue Dart and Skyline NEPC, September onwards.

T K Bagchi, IA's general manager (engineering), eastern region, said Sahara Airlines has also requested IA to arrange similar training for its staff. Earlier, only technicians from HAL and the Air Force were trained at the engineering school.

The engine overhaul shop is also expected to take up the job of overhauling the Boeing B-737 auxiliary power unit (APUs), following requests made by a number of private ATOs.

Since none of the private airlines have engineering facilities for servicing sophisticated aircraft, the workshop is expected to generate good business.

The engine shop has a state-of-the-art overhauling facility for the APU of Airbus A-320s. The facility saves on substantial foreign exchange, nearly $ 60,000, by overhauling each APU which otherwise would have been sent abroad.